Transformation in the 20th Century: Environmentalism Shapes Politics
Here you can see the results of all Parliamentary elections since 1919. At the top level of the program, you see several columns. Each stands for the outcome of an election. Toward the right side, you can see that the columns become more varied. In more recent history, an increasing number of political parties have made it into the Parliament.
A light green column appears for the first time in 1986, when the Green Alternative Party received 4.8% of the votes—enough for the party to enter into the Parliament—along with their top candidate, Freda Meissner-Blau.
In the National Assembly elections just before that in 1983, two green parties had run against one another. One was the VGÖ (The United Greens of Austria), a coalition of environmental movements that ranged from right-wing to bourgeois-conservative. The other green party was the politically left-wing ALÖ (The Austrian Alternative List). Neither one made it into Parliament—they united and formed the Green Party, which still exists today.
After the Second World War there was a rapid and noticeable increase in environmental changes. At the same time, new energy sources were being tapped, technologies developed, and markets became globally entwined. Everyday life changed swiftly, and grew more convenient due to petroleum and electricity, cars and airplanes, plastic and artificial fertilizer—all products provided by large-scale corporations.
In the 1970s, environmental awareness began to increase, resulting in the formation of political parties that took environmental protection as their main agenda.
Later on, we will look at how the environmental movement in Austria started. But for now, let's go back to the 1930s and 1940s, and take a look at ideas of “nature” and the “environment” in reactionary or fascist ideologies.